Lifelong Learning

Have you always wanted to play a harp? Have you heard hammered dulcimers in folk music or contra dance bands?

You can learn these instruments even if you do not read music and have no previous musical experience. Alice Freeman teaches both learning styles -- by ear or from written music. She has been teaching since 2009 and her students have ranged in age from 7 to 78 when they started lessons.

Alice Freeman has played classical, popular, religious and folk music on various instruments since starting piano lessons as a 6-year-old. In 1997 she began studying harp and added hammered dulcimer lessons in 2002. Alice played second harp with the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra for 15 years and performs regularly at many venues in Laramie and the surrounding area. She frequently plays her hammered dulcimer for events and performed as the "Santur" player in the Fort Collins OpenStage Theatre production of Arabian Nights.

Alice Freeman offers beginning and intermediate instruction on the lever or folk harp. She will help you locate a harp to rent if needed. She strongly recommends renting an instrument instead of buying one at first, because you will know a lot more about what kind of harp you want after a few months of lessons. Alice is willing to work with children if they have completed at least three years of piano lessons and read music well.

Alice Freeman offers beginning and intermediate instruction on the hammered dulcimer. This type of dulcimer is an instrument in which the numerous strings are beaten with small hammers. It is quite different from the Appalachian or mountain dulcimer which has only 3 or 4 strings and is strummed in your lap. Alice will help you locate an instrument if needed. It is more difficult to find a hammered dulcimer to rent, but student instruments are frequently available to purchase for several hundred dollars.